Shohei Ohtani will make his Dodgers debut against the Padres in MLB’s first regular season game in Korea. (Photo by Gene Wang/Getty Images)
Opening Day is still eight days away, but the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres are kicking things off early Wednesday with MLB’s first regular season game in South Korea.
At the Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul, Shohei Ohtani will make his long-awaited regular season debut in Dodger blue, while Tyler Glasnow will also make his Dodgers debut when he takes the mound against the Padres’ Yu Darvish.
The Padres and Dodgers have both been in Seoul for a number of days. They’ve been able to get over any jet lag they experienced on the way over, and they’ve also been able to get some playing time at the Gocheok Sky Dome. Both teams have played the Korean National Baseball Team as well as two teams from the KBO, Korea’s equivalent to MLB.
But those were just exhibition games. This is the real thing. Both teams will play a few more spring training games before the 2024 season really gets underway, but the regular season is finally here.
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The Dodgers scored their first run of 2024 on a Jason Heyward sacrifice fly, which led Padres manager Mike Shildt to make that long walk out to the mound and pull Darvish, his starter.
The Padres scored the first run of the game, but it looks like Darvish is on his last few batters as his control continues to suffer.
What started with an Ohtani hit led to the Dodgers clogging the bases in the third as Darvish continues to have issues with location. But Muncy swings through strike three and the Padres escape from danger — for now, at least…
Shohei Ohtani has his first hit as a Dodger! He whipped a line drive to right field and then almost immediately stole second. Campusano the catcher barely got the ball out of his glove before he was already standing on second.
Glasnow has looked sharp, but allowed his first walk of the game (and the season) to Jurickson Profar in the second. Profar was almost immediately erased from the bases when Luis Campusano grounded out sharply to Mookie Betts for the third out.
We have actual footage to show you of Ohtani’s first at-bat as a Dodger.
Third baseman Max Muncy has the first hit of the MLB season, a line drive single to center field that he followed with a stolen base. Just two innings into the season and the Dodgers are already feeling frisky.
Old friends alert! MLB’s winningest Asian pitcher, Chan Ho Park, threw out the first pitch, and Ken Griffey Jr. is also at the game as a sports photographer.
Korean pitcher Chan Ho Park threw out the first pitch to begin the Seoul Series 🇰🇷
Park is the winningest Asian pitcher in MLB history.
Shohei Ohtani’s first at-bat as a Dodger is in the books: a force out that included some confusion when umpire interference nullified a Betts stolen base.
Now it’s official! Yu Darvish delivered the first pitch of the 2024 season: a ball to Mookie Betts.
And a few pitches later, Darvish earned a pitch clock violation and Betts became the first baserunner of the 2024 season.
Good morning and welcome to the first regular season baseball game of 2024! The national anthems went off without a hitch.